The Legend of a Rogue - Darcy Burke Page 0,20
I accompany you to Dunkeld on the morrow—or the next day, if it snows too much tonight—I may want to find this cretin who wanted to handfast.”
A sardonic smile lifted her lips. “Don’t bother. He found a willing party. Their year was up in August, and neither wanted to continue. He decided to leave Dunkeld.”
“How fortunate for him.”
“What would you have done?”
He shrugged. “Just made sure he didn’t bother you again.”
“Oh, I quite took care of that.” She gave him a confident smile.
He let out a loud laugh. “I would have liked to have seen that. And I am not the least surprised. I should have known you wouldn’t need my protection.”
“It’s still nice to know you would have given it.”
“Any time, Miss Marshall.”
As they neared the inn, it seemed their gait slowed.
“You may call me Elspeth. And probably should if you plan to continue kissing me.”
“Will you allow me to?”
“So long as you don’t lie.”
“I meant what I said.” He bent his head and spoke next to her ear. “I look forward to more kisses.” He felt the tremor that ran through her and smiled.
She exhaled. “They shall have to wait as I must go check on my aunt. I’ll see you at dinner?”
“Yes. I think I may do a little exploring and see if I can learn anything about Neil Kerr. I do wonder if Dougal wasn’t entirely truthful, not that I blame him. He is clearly worried for his brother, as he should be.”
They walked into Balthazar’s yard, and she took her hand from his arm. “You’ll find him. I suspect you’re exceptionally good at that.”
He turned toward her, his body thrumming with desire. “I’m good at whatever I put my mind to, Elspeth. I hope you’ll remember that.”
Chapter Five
After dropping her gloves and cloak in her chamber, Elspeth knocked on the adjoining door to her aunt’s room. She was still working on reining in the tumult of emotions and thoughts rioting in her brain.
“Come in!” Aunt Leah called. “How was your walk?”
“Very nice, but I’m afraid it’s started to snow again.” Elspeth crossed to the window. “So far it’s light, but that could change.”
Aunt Leah sat in a cushioned chair positioned in front of the fireplace. Her room was larger and had a bit more furniture than Elspeth’s. “Do you think we’ll be able to leave tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. Mr. MacLean wasn’t sure either.”
One of Aunt Leah’s sable brows arched with interest. “Oh, you saw Mr. MacLean?”
“On my walk, yes.” He was already taking up a good portion of space in her head, and now talking about him almost made it seem he was here in the room. Which was silly.
Yet why else would her body be tingling? It seemed to only do that when he was around. Or when she was thinking about him, apparently.
All of this was ridiculous. She should still be angry with him, shouldn’t she? He’d lied about, well, nearly everything.
He’d also had reasonable explanations for why he’d done so.
“I like him,” Aunt Leah was saying as Elspeth dragged herself from the distraction of thinking of Tavish. Rather, Lord bloody Strathclyde. “It seems you do too. Also, that he likes you in return. Would I be wrong to hope for a match? I admit I would hate for you to move to Glasgow, but it would be so lovely to see you wed. My brother—your father, that is—would think so too.”
Oh dear, Elspeth wasn’t sure how she felt about Aunt Leah trying to marry her off to Tavish—Lord Strathclyde. “I think it’s too soon to think of such things, let alone discuss them.” Sharing kisses was one thing, but Elspeth couldn’t see where a lord would marry someone like her. Surely, he’d wed a daughter of an earl or someone similar.
And yet, if that were the case, why would he be kissing her? A seed of hope burrowed itself into her chest. Then she promptly thrust the thought from her mind in favor of something far more important: finding Lann Dhearg.
“Would you like some tea, Aunt?” Elspeth asked.
“Why yes, that would be lovely.”
“I’ll go and ask Carrie.” Elspeth went downstairs in search of the innkeeper’s daughter.
Upon entering the common room, she saw Balthazar himself perched on a stool behind the bar, brushing his beard. She didn’t particularly want to interrupt his toilet, so she ducked behind the stairs and found a narrow corridor that presumably led to the rooms where Balthazar and Carrie lived.
“Miss Marshall,” Carrie said with a touch of surprise